Method of rolling metal



March 30, 1937. R R, WTH 2,075,066 METHOD OF ROLLING METAL Filed Sept. 15,1954

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ATTORNEYoS.

Patented Mar. 30, 1 937 I i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF ROLLING METAL Russell R. Smith, Ashland, Ky., assignor to The American Rolling Mill Company, Middletown, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application September 15, 1934, Serial No. 744,245

8 Claims. (Cl. 29-19) My invention has to do with the rolling of two gives a pack thickness of .218 inch at the rough plate or thin bar to useful finished gauges, outset. This pack is thick enough so that the and has for its principal object the provision of roller, in cross rolling it, can take a heavy draft a new and improved method of reduction for on the first pass. The rolls are then deflected 5 such material, permitting the securing of lighter sufficiently to give the pack a middle, by making 5 gauges with less tendency to pinching. The it .004 to .005 inch thicker in the center than at ancillary objects of my invention will be pointed its edges. This permits finishing to the lighterout hereinafter or will be apparent to one skilled gauge with much less danger of pinching. But, in the art upon reading these specifications; starting with such thin bar, the thickness of the wherein I have described my novel process in an pa k r qu 7 to 9 pass s t redu it to a 16 10 exemplary embodiment. In the drawing I have a e breakdown n o 9 passes more to reshown the several steps of my process in a die,- duce the breakdown to a 20 ga e s e grammatic way, My novel process solves these problems as I The terms rough'plate, thin bar and the shall hereinafter describe. I start preferably,

like have been applied to the material produced though not nece arily, with a wide thin ba 15 from slabs on the modern continuous hot mill, ock Which will be relatively thick, b s I do or to equivalent material otherwise produced. not Shear it into Pieces as long as he desi ed such mat rial ca b produced at a t per width of the finished sheet. Ieither employ thin pound substantially the same as that of sheet bar Which already has convexity ue to conbars produced on the blooming mill; but it'is of timlolls hot rolling methods, I give it a con- 20 much thinner gauge. It has therefore been seen VeXity middle by an after t eatment This that this material would form advantageous may conveniently be n y givi it a hot starting pieces for non-continuous reduction rolling P With the Center Of e hin bar artisteps producing thin gauges. The product of the fi a cooled by w er or oth r m s. It ma continuous hot mill can be had in different of course be done other ways known to the 25 gauges. The gauges mentioned hereinafter arer exemplary but not limiting; and I shall refer to I then shear the thin bar into pieces s e the hot mill product for convenience as thin bar than the desired Width of the fi ed s eet. The i these specifications, t intending thereby to sheared pieces are then cross rolled to bring them imply any gauge limitation The t bar may to a length at least equal to the width of the 30 b d d, of course, ith on h t t desired finished sheet. During this first cross rollmill, a continuous tandem mill or a single s there w be no convexity lon itudinally of stand n, the mill; but the convexity longitudinally of the Certain problems arise in connection with the Piece Will not be destroyed Due to the p i s of thi t i l, Inasmuch as t width tive shortness of thesheared pieces, this firstcross 35 that can be produced on the hot mills is limited, rolling may becarried on in a ar w mill, us the practice is to shear the thin bar into pieces relieving h wide mill of duty, d pe ittin l the length of which is representative of the the continued use mill equipment width of the desired finished sheet, and then ready purchased- Usually 0116 tWO p s s are 40 cross roll the pieces. For example, it is de all that are required to elongate the thin bar to 40 sired to produce a sheet 66 inches wide by 100 e ed l ngt If these ses a e taken inches long and .037 inch thick. Th thin bar immediately after the formation and shearing of for such a sheet might be rolled to .081 inch e thin b they, may u y be taken as a p in thickness and 53 inches ide. The t k of the thin bar formation process, and without would then be sheared 68' inches long. But in eating. The thin bar p s y usually be 5 cross rolling thin bar as thin as .081 inch (which ed after the shearing d rolled in Pairs in in packs of two is only .162 inch thick) it is very the first ss rolling. diificult to prevent pinching, especially because The thin bars or packs are reheated for the final the pack has no convexity in the direction of the redu n s p which comprise a second cross mill rolls during cross rolling, and is of uniform O lin t s to s y, the p s a e a a n 5 gauge or thickness across the entire 68 inches turned through an angle of 90 degrees. This-gives of its width. In the language of the roller, the a pack or piece adapted for rolling on a wide mill pack has no middle. in the direction of the packs shorter dimension,

A practical way of overcoming this difiiculty, the'longer dimension of the-pack being as long as has been practiced in the art; but involves the the width of the desired finished sheet. The 55 use of thicker thin bar. The thin bar has been longer dimension of the pack is the direction of rolled to a thickness of .109 inch, and to a corwidth of the original thin bar pieces. Conserespondingly narrower width, such as 36 inches. quently my pack differs from packs previously- The bar was then sheared to a length of 67 produced in that it initially has convexity longi- 0 inches. Such material matched for a pack of tudinally of the wide mill. It does not require a special convexity producing treatment, nor does it have to be so thick as to permit of such treatment. The second cross rolling is continued until the pack is down to finished gauge.

5 In the drawing, I represents a hot mill, or the end element of a hot mill train, producing thin bar. Or it may be a special mill, or representative of a special pass to form convexity in thin bar. A piece of sheared thin bar is shown at A. It has convexity, the edges being thinner than the middle. The piece A, or a matched pair of the pieces A are turned through an angle of 90 degrees into the position B and cross-rolled through a mill 2 (which may be a narrow mill) to form the elongated piece or pack C. This pack or piece has convexity in the direction in which it was cross rolled, but none longitudinally of the rolls of the mill 2. It will be of a length at least equal to the width of the desired finished sheet. The piece or pack C is next rolled through a mill 3 in a direction which is cross, or at right angles to, the directionof the first cross rolling, to form the finished product D.

In carrying out my process, by way of example,

in producing an order of sheets 66" wide by 100 inches long, and .037 inch thick, the piece A would be 54 inches wide and sheared to a length of 54 inches. It, would average .104 inch thick, but would he, say, .107 inch thick in the center and but .102 inch thick at the edges. A pair of the thin bars A would be matched and turned as at B, giving a pack averaging .208 inch thick with convexity in the direction of roll length during cross rolling. When rolled in the mill 2 it would be elongated say from 54 inches to 71 inches, the thickness of the ends of the pack being reduced from .102 to .077 inch, while. the thickness of the mid-portion would be reduced from .107 to .081 for each piece in the pack. Upon the positioning of the pack for the second cross rolling these ends become the edges of the pack, which will be .154 inch thick while the center of the pack will be .162 inch thick, giving plenty 1 Modifications may be made in my invention Without departing from the spirit thereof.

-Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is: 1. A method of producing thin bar packs or pieces for reduction to sheet gauges and with initial convexity which comprises starting with thin bar stock having convexity but less in width than the desired width of finished sheets, shearing the thin bar stock into thin bars, elongating the thin bars transversely until the length thereof equals the desired width of the finished sheets without destroying the original convexity, and afterward elongatingthem in the original direction of rolling.

2. A method of producing sheetmetal from thin bar which comprisesproviding wide thin bar stock with initial transverse convexity, shearing the stock into pieces shorter than the desired width of finished sheets, rolling the pieces in a direction transverse to the direction of rolling of the original thin bar stock to bring them to a gauge suitable for single part reduction and a length at least equal ,to the desired width of finished sheets but without destroying the original convexity, and finally rolling the material to gauge in a direction parallel to the direction of rolling of the thin bar stock.

3. A method of producing sheet metal from thin bar which comprises providing thin bar stock with initial transverse convexity, shearing the stock into thin bars, matching the thin bars into packs and rolling them in a direction transverse to the direction of rolling of the thin bar stock to increase the width of the material (as respects the direction of original rolling) to the width of the desired finished sheets but Without destroying the original convexity, and afterward rolling the widened material down to gauge in the direction of original rolling of the thin bar stock.

4. A method of producing sheet metal from thin bar, which comprises providing thin bar stock with initial transverse convexity, shearing the stock into pieces shorter than the desired width of finished sheets, rolling the pieces in a direction transverse to the direction of rolling of the thin bar stock to bring them to a length at least equal to the desired width of finished sheets, whereby starting pieces are formed for a second rolling in a direction parallel to the direction of rolling of the thin bar stock, said pieces having convexity in the direction of their length, and finally rolling said pieces to gauge in a direction parallel to the direction of rolling of the thin bar stock.

5. A method of producting sheet metal from thin bar, which comprises providing thin bar stock with initial transverse convexity, shearing the stock into thin bars, matching the thin bars into packs and rolling them in a direction transverse to the direction of rolling of the thin bar stock to increase the width of the material (as respects the direction of original rolling) to the width of the desired finished sheets, re-heating the elongated packs and rolling them down to gauge by a second rolling operation in a direction parallel to the direction of rolling of the thin bar stock.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first mentioned transverse rolling is carried on in a narrow mill, and the second mentioned rolling is carried on in a wide mill.

7. A method of preparing wide, convex pieces from narrow, transversely convex, thin bar stock, which comprises cutting thin bar stock which is narrower than the desired width of finished sheets into. pieces, rolling these pieces in a direction transverse to the direction of rolling of the thin bar stock, so as to widen them to at least the desired width of finished sheets while preserving their initial convexity in the initial direction, whereby pieces are provided which, if rolled in a direction parallel to the direction of original rolling of the thin bar stock, will have a'dimension transverse to the direction of said final rolling,

which is at least equal to the width of the desired finished sheets, and which will have a substantial convexity in the proper direction for such rolling.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the said transverse rolling of the thin bar pieces is carried on immediately after the formation of the thin bar material by hot rolling, and as a part of the same heat.

' RUSSELL R. SMITH. 

